The full board will consider the legislation on September 14, and Mayor Willie Brown has said he would sign it.

Current law allows a landlord to evict a tenant for "just cause," which includes landlords occupying the apartment themselves or giving it to a relative.

The number of owner move-in evictions rose from 439 to 831 between 1996 and 1997, and has already reached 1,253 this year.

Renters claim the ordinance is needed to halt the rapid rise. But property owners blasted the plan as an attack on their rights and warned that it would make it impossible for average people to own homes in the city.

More than 80 people, many elderly, packed the meeting room yesterday in support of the measure. Many wore patches reading "Stop the Eviction Epidemic."

"I'm being evicted. I've lived in my house 28, years and I'll be 65 tomorrow," said an angry Corinne Chakarian. "I can't find anything I can afford. I live on Social Security and a pension."

Chakarian pays $575 a month rent for a five-room flat in the Inner Sunset. The two men who own her building plan on moving in.

"I'm willing to pay more, but I can't pay the rents the market dictates," Chakarian said.

Jeanne Lynch and others said landlords are targeting the elderly so they can take advantage of the soaring rental market.

"I find it unconscionable that people like myself, who have some disabilities, find it impossible to access safe, affordable housing," Lynch said.

But Lena Emmery, who owns a building in the Haight, chided the housing committee for proposing the measure.

"Owners have all these rules imposed on them, and there are none on tenants," Emmery said, drawing a rumble of disapproval from the crowd.

She said imposing such restrictions on property owners was against "the American way."

-- Increase the percentage of building ownership required for an eviction from 25 to 50 percent after July 1, 1997.

-- Prohibit an eviction if a comparable unit owned by the landlord is vacant and available.

-- Require that an owner or relative move into the property within three months of an eviction, and increase the length of time they must live there from one to three years.

-- Require landlords who move out within three years to offer former tenants a "right of re-rental" at the old rate. If the tenant refuses, the landlord can rent the unit for no more than the amount the evicted tenant paid.

-- Provide up to $1,000 in relocation costs for tenants of 12 months or more in multiple-unit buildings. Owners would also have to to document an eviction, and could be guilty of a misdemeanor if they tried to skirt the ordinance.

Tenants rights activists praised the provisions in the ordinance, but fear politicians under pressure from property owners may weaken it. A watered-down ordinance could undercut a similar initiative on the November ballot.

The initiative -- Proposition G - would prohibit owner move-in evictions of seniors, disabled and the terminally ill. There is a temporary ban on such evictions, approved by the supervisors on July 6 and lasting through next June.

Proposition G would also limit owner move-in evictions to one per building.